Bolt Squadron
by Dragons123d
Summary: Forced into the early days of the Rebellion, stuck inside the cockpit of a F-22 Raptor in the middle of space, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger find themselves in the middle of a conflict with a box that may contain the miracle that the Rebellion needs to beat the Galactic Empire. (Written similarly to Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover)
1. Chapter 1

_Once, this story would have been told to people of the younger generations, but this story has already happened. The moment you start reading this, the story is already over, as it happened in a galaxy so far away and so long ago, by the time we could ever reach that galaxy, it would have changed to the point of unrecognizability. In fact, as you read this story, you must understand that everyone that played a part in this story has already passed on. Yet, that doesn't stop you from reading it, cause for you, its happening right now..._

* * *

**Part 1**

_**Antiquity**_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Imperial turbolaser fire surged through the breaking blockade of the Rebellion, the heavily armed battleships turning the scattered, cobbled together frigates and other older ships from an era gone by with quick effectency. Nebulon-B frigates were becoming scrap metal and heated gas as the barley operational MC80 Star Cruiser took more and more damage from the oncoming Imperial fleet. Any CR90's that had escorted the blockade were now becoming fallback vessels, as escape pods jettisoned towards them. This would become a dark day for the Rebellion and for the planet of Lianna.

At least, it would have been.

As the Imperial fleet closed in, across the still operational Rebellion ships came a signal. It was weak at first, then grew stronger as it got closer. Dropping out of hyperspace was something that actually threw the Imperial's for a loop, as it was like a blast from the past. A Venator-class Star Destroyer, followed by a MC75 Ordnance Cruiser a handful of Assault Frigate Mark II A and B's, and several modified Pelta-class Assault ships. Reinforcements had come to make sure the front lines didn't fall.

The battle became much more heated as the Venator aimed it's clearly plundered weaponry at the oncoming Imperials, giving time to its starfighters to get out into the fray. Even then, things were only going to get worse from here on out.

* * *

As anti fighter flak barely missed the oncoming fighters, the shields had to take on the waves of green energy that come from the twin cannons of the Imperial TIE-Fighters. However, the TIE's couldn't exactly hit the new ships that were pouring out of the Venator like one of the many hive based insect species that thrived on Felucia. These ships were also not of the same make that the pilots training taught them to face in the Imperial Academy, as their targeting systems were unable to pick up the new starfighter.

Which suited Harry just fine: if they couldn't hit you, then you had everything going for you.

"R2, see if you can keep those deflectors up for a few more seconds," Harry said on the internal comm, "we're almost through this."

R2-D2, formerly Luke Skywalker's astromech, whistled and chirped an affirmative as Harry pushed the starfighter through the storm of Imperial grade metal. The eccentric droid had found Harry first and bonded with the teen that the two were inseparable, even after much debate with its counterpart, C-3P0 and Luke himself. The droid really wanted to have adventures, not be stuck on some draftly cruiser with nothing to do but handle maintenance. Of course, it helped that this new fighter wasn't like anything that had been used by the Rebellion before anyway.

These ships were the spacefaring generation of the planet Earths' Jet Fighters, among several other variations that were brought along. Of course, they only were brought along when Harry and his best friend, Hermione Granger were forced into a American F-22 Raptor fighter jet in a British-American air force base when they were being hunted down by a group of Death Eaters. They were miraculously saved by magic, due to the two having powerful spouts of accidental magic.

This lead to them being stranded in space with a box full of military plans, blueprints and even blueprints of fictional ships that were on television! Even then, they were sucked into another war, but the lines were drawn even clearer than the one back home. Harry had quickly joined the starfighter pilots as he wanted to help but Hermione stayed behind on Mon Calamari to help the people there start producing these new space grade vessels.

The first wave of fighters, like Harry's, were called FW-01's and were starting to show why they were much better than both the A-wings and X-wings. Smaller, much faster and carrying much more weaponry than both, the FW's were tearing through the Imperial starfighters. Chains of red plasma fire surged out of the central cannon mounted underneath the cockpit, leaving behind debris and expanding gases of the TIE-fighters.

His cockpit hummed and rang as he was nearly hit with a green sizzling bolt of turbolaser fire from the Imperial II class Star Destroyer. Pushing the fighter's nose down, the bolt sailed past as R2 warbled into the translation console readout: THAT WAS CLOSE! ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE OFF MY HEAD?

"No, R2," Harry retorted, flipping a few switches that signalled his personal squadron to form up on him. "Unless you do want me to do that, which I don't want to do, just keep on talking about it ok?"

A flat whine: YOU WOULDN'T.

"Then focus on the Imperials' or Hermione will bring us back to life and kill us both all over again."

* * *

This is Harry James Potter:

A natural born pilot, skilled leader and magic wielding human being. However, this wasn't always the case. Before he became the head of his own squadron of Rebels, or even found himself and Hermione stranded in space, he was simply Harry Potter. Orphaned Wizard, raised by his estranged Aunt and Uncle who despised magic for all it was worth. A worldwide hero that knows his parents should be having all the praise and not himself. A Teenager that always dives into situations headfirst because of his 'saving Hero's thing'.

That and he doesn't know anything about Love.

Yes, he knows the meaning of it but the feeling, action, the emotions? They are nothing to him, as he was never shown it in his life before he met the likes of Rubeus Hagrid. But, even then, that wasn't real love. Over his relatively short lifetime, the Boy-Who-Lived has never gotten to feel what it is like to be in love despite trying to find it in the likes of Cho Chang. That didn't help him at all, as it only drove the feelings of love away.

Even now, the only fleeting feelings of Love come from when he dreams of his mother and father, before they are taken away from him. Truth be told, he has never had a hug that really meant much to him. He avoids physical contact as much as he can, to the extent that people around him, be they human or alien, find him awkward to be around.

However, knowingly or unknowingly, Harry can give his love out even more so than he can feel it. Sure, he may just play it off as being helpful but to those that truly know him, he is doing it out of love. That is his power, but he may not know it.

Because deep down, even after beheading Voldemort and being forced to go on the run with Hermione, he is still waiting for that door to his locked heart to be opened by someone that can show him what Love is.

* * *

Harry's ship bucked as the shields were hit with near point blank anti fighter flak, making him grimace. This was just one of those days he _HATED_ Imperial weaponry. They hit hard and make sure you knew that they hit you, which was one of the reasons that the Rebellion was a starfighter based force than a capital against capital slugfest. Shoving his starfighters' yoke forward, forcing the ship to rocket forward, hitting the new speed of Mach 20. Outstripping the Rebellion's X-wings and A-wings and the TIE fighters but since Hermione was busy making more and probably making a second generation of this ships that would outstrip the first generation, it was still fast.

Harry's console bleeped, showing this his squadron, codenamed "Bolt Squadron", formed up. He flared his port jets, kicking the fighter to his right in a smooth motion. Rushing over the top of the ISD, his cannon blasting away at the massive turbolasers that were pointed at the Venator. The rest of his squad followed suite, tearing into the weapons before the cannon exploded.

"Bolts 4 and 5," Harry said over the noise of the continuing battle. "See if you two can take out those shield generators. Bolts 2 and 3, break off and take out the hangar bays. I'm getting sick of seeing Imperial grade starfighters for one day."

The fighters broke off to do as they were told, Harry switching his weapon systems from the cannon to missiles. R2 squealed something but Harry didn't have time to look as his fighter was hit from behind. While the deflector had taken the full brunt of the attack, it still rattled Harry inside the cockpit.

When he did look at the console readout, he didn't like what was there: TIE INTERCEPTOR ON OUR TAIL!

Harry grimaced, of course it had to be that. The much more versatile TIE Interceptor was the nemesis to the FW-01's, able to hit Mach 22 and out speed the FW's, while also including much better weaponry than the bland TIE Fighter standards. However, Harry pulled the yoke to his right before forcing it forward, causing the ship to shoot sideways as it's processors were still trying to catch up. This made the Interceptor shoot forward, allowing for Harry to lock on.

The missile hit the ship dead on, leaving nothing but expanding gases behind. He couldn't waste more time as R2 reported that the shield generators were out, he forced his starfighter forward before forcefully sending it into a drift. His computers locked onto the ISD's massive engines before he pulled the trigger. A barrage of missiles rushed forward, as the ISD was it with a sudden power failure thanks to one of the new space age stealth bombers. The payloads shot down the engine ports and slammed inside the Star Destroyer.

The resulting effect was a chain reaction with tore the ISD open like a zipper on a jacket. The back blew out as it ripped itself open before it stopped, the tip barely holding it together. Harry grinned as the rest of the Imperial fleet suddenly found itself outgunned and outnumbered by the Rebel blockade. Of course, it was one for the books but this wouldn't be the last time the Empire would try to take the Liannain system.

Turning his fighter back towards the Venator, Harry spoke over the comm, "_Liberation_, this is Bolt Leader, we got them."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The low humming of the holo computer filled the office that overlooked the main ring of the Mon Calamari Shipyards, though it was the only original ring that could be seen. Surrounding the watery planet was many rings that served the same purpose, to build the ships, weapons and tools needed to fuel a Rebellion. That was what it was supposed to do anyway, but with the Empire was controlling the Outer Rim from Zygerria all the way to Lothal, it was harder to get the supplies in to get the shipyards anyway.

With the Lianna as the main staging area and a blockade, the only way to get any materials was to drag in the scavengable parts of the Empires ships. Or start pillaging Raxus Prime, again, like they had been for the past few months. The garbage pit of the galaxy was the best place to get all the needed materials but the tabana gas was also nowhere near, discounting the gas moon that circling the Raxus Prime.

Hopefully, they could find something soon.

That was Hermiones' hope anyway, across the room was a much younger but definitely as smart as herself redhead named Mio Naruse. The girl was busy typing away at a simulation for one of the fictional ships from the Tv show called Stargate SG-1. The hologram was showing a Daedalus class BC-304's railguns and comparing it the Hyper velocity cannon, though it seemed to be making the girl very frustrated.

"WHY WON'T THIS WORK?!" Mio all but shouted, making Hermione nearly spill her hot chocolate all over her desk. "THEY ARE PRACTICALLY THE SAME KRIFFING WEAPONS!"

Hermione put her mug down and got up, walking over to her fellow human. Looking over the hologram simulation, she noticed a few things that were not exactly lining up. One of them was the power to energy conversion ratio, it was disbalanced heavily to the point that she could see what was going on. That also didn't account for the misjudged materials needed for the Railgun to fire.

"Mio, your equations are disbalanced. Your working with portable, projectile firing weapons, not massive one shot planet side capital destroyers." Hermione pressed a few keys, changing the equation until it went from red to green glow. "See? You were trying to shove enough power into the smaller weapon to make it a one shot killer. This isn't one of those, the smaller ones have the same output but over more shots."

"Yeah but the conversions wouldn't work cause the barrel would melt before it could get ten rounds off." Mio countered, huffing as she folded her arms under her bosom, clearly put out.

"Mio, you were using Planetside metals." Hermione sighed, pulling up the list of metals that were used in the construction of starships and their various weapon types. "You don't use planetside metals on a spacefaring vessel's weapons. The railguns would have to be made out of Beskar, Cortosis or Phrik to withstand the heat and the electric currents used to help make this weapon work."

"You do know-" She started to say before Hermione cut her off.

"Yes, yes, I know." Hermione groaned, "We are nowhere near any viable sources of those metals. Not even Raxus Prime has it and we've had that stupid AI on the garbage heap look all over for it. Nothing."

Hermione ran her her fingers through her hair, a habit she had picked up due to how frustrating it was to be the head of the Mon Calamari shipyards R&D team. Long hours, multiple mistakes and lots of empty hot chocolate mugs. Her only solace was that she veto anything the rest of the Staff Heads did as this was her data, not theirs. To put it simply, she was in control of everything pretty much. Most days though, she wished she wasn't in this position.

"If only we could find a way to reverse engineer a lightsaber so it would allow use to make it into a viable weapon blueprint." Mio muttered, making Hermione roll her eyes.

"You realize that the Empire has melted nearly all the known lightsabers in the galaxy and the Jedi temple under constant guard. So how do we infiltrate it?"

Mio looked away, clearly realizing her mistake at that. One thing that always brought the people back to reality was Hermione, because if you were too optimistic, you could kill someone. She then turned on her heels, walking back to her desk. As she picked up the datacomputer, she headed towards the doors.

"Just don't destroy the office while I'm busy chewing out Captain Shack of the Liberation, ok?"

"Yes ma'am." Mio grinned.

* * *

This is Hermione Jean Granger:

A naturally gifted witch, a bookworm and proficient fighter. However, her gift of knowledge has also been her biggest weakness throughout her life. When she was younger, she was often bullied due to ability to understand and do better. As she got older, it only grew worse, leaving her the outcast. Her only solace was her parents until she got her letter to Hogwarts. But even then, that was the same with her original schooling.

That was until she met Harry Potter.

Everything changed, she wasn't alone anymore. Harry was her friend, a close one at that. Over the years, Hermione came to rely on Harry's natural talents as much as he relied on hers. Then they were forced into this galaxy far., far away. This meant many things would change, she and Harry were the only magic users around, nothing could save them or bring them back home.

She couldn't go back to hiding herself away in a library, nor could she study everything she wanted. Those times were past, she had to grow up in a war torn environment between two of Cinema's greatest factions: The Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

And that terrifies her to the core.

She doesn't let anyone else know but deep inside, she is that same little outcast. Her fear has become a red eyed serpent that whispers in her mind, things she desperately doesn't want to believe but her walls are breaking every day. As she knows for a fact that while Harry is in the middle of the battle, he is risking their safety every time.

If he is caught by the Empire, Harry will be brought before the Emperor and at worst, be used to force her to save him.

This is the greatest fear that gnaws at her heart and mind every day...

* * *

Hermione waited as Captain Shack stepped down the ramp from his star destroyer, noting his deminare was that of one that had seen too much to such a short time frame. Though he did bring in the motherload this time. A class II ISD, a few Victory class ships and a new Star Destroyer. This would be interesting to study.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Having a Fleet Admiral rank really did have its perks sometimes, especially when it came to having a proper shower. It was very good to have a warm shower rather than a low ranking officer sonic that they had to share. In the Imperial Navy, rank meant everything, your looks and body came second. Of course, Only having been recently promoted due to the Death Star having been blown up by the Rebels only a few months ago, Fleet Admiral Sarah Maroon stepped out of the shower. She was pulling on her robe when her comm chimed.

Pressing the button, a hologram popped up. "Yes?"

"Fleet Admiral Sarah Maroon, I believe I have been assigned to your vessel."

The voice was controlled, calm and collected. Something new and it was courteous towards her, even the eyes avoided moving downwards from her face.

"And may I ask who you are?" She asked, tightening a strap on her rob as she lifted the holocom in one hand.

"I am Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo," The being said, making Sarah do a double take, that name was alien. "But, I am also known as Thrawn. I will be commanding your flagship during the time of your service."

Sarah nodded. "Very well, report yourself to the newly created Executor-class Star Destroyer, _Interrogator_, Captain. I need not remind you of how much time I have until we must leave?"

"No, Fleet Admiral, you do not. I will be on the bridge, awaiting your arrival. Thrawn out." The hologram faded into nothing as Sarah moved to her new wardrobe and got her uniform on.

One thing she didn't like about Imperial uniforms was how tight they were for any well endowed female officers. It hurt!

* * *

When Sarah stepped onto the bridge of her flagship, she found the Captain quite easily. Captain Thrawn was a being of legend in the Empire, the only alien to ever be allowed to join and this was from the recommendation from the Emperor himself! The blue skin and red eyes would of been unsettling for anyone else, but for Sarah, she found them quick attractive. At least he wasn't another stuck up officer that would more likely blackmail her into his bedchambers.

Thrawn straightened and looked at her, nodding his head in greeting. "Fleet Admiral."

"Admiral for now, Captain Thrawn, we don't want to make it so formal." Sarah nodded before motioning Thrawn to follow her to the front of the viewport.

"So, is this the first SSD you have been placed in command, Captain?" The Fleet Admiral asked her new Captain, looking at the Chiss from the corner of her eyes.

Thrawn looked out into the busy lanes of the Kuat Shipyards before speaking. "Indeed it is, but this _Executor_ is different than the flagship that is commanded by Lord Vader."

"Indeed it is, only about sixteen thousand meters but this ship has more experimental weaponry than Lord Vaders' does. This ship is to be the next subclass of the _Executor _if successful against the Rebels."

"I understand," Thrawn nodded his head before looking at her. "And where shall we test this vessel?"

Sarah pondered for a moment before smiling. Yes, it would be a good way to test this vessel's capabilities in combat.

"Captain, set course for the Lianna system."

Thrawn moved off to do as ordered as Sarah began to think of a name for her new flagship. This shouldn't be too hard but nothing was going to be easy as she heard Thrawn have the escort fleet form up on them. Maybe this would be overkill, but in the hands of a strategist like Thrawn, she knew that her ships and her crew would be in good hands.

* * *

Captain Shack of the Liberation was sipping a cup of coffee as Hermione Granger looked over the salaved ISD's. The Captain had gotten his chewing out earlier that day and was happy on not getting another. It seemed that one a day was going to be the price to pay. The teen was muttering under her breath as the ISD II was slowly pushed into a docking port to be deconstructed and reused for more Rebellion vessels.

Waste not or get a bushy haired Granger hot on your aft for it.

Of course, that wouldn't be the case today as the girl finished her checklist and looked at him.

"Acceptable, please try to bring in more intact vessel's next time."

"I'll try my best, princess." He said, hiding his teasing smirk as Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"I am not a princess, stop calling me one." She hissed, giving the brown haired girl an adorable look.

"Whatever you say." He smirked. "Princess."

Hermione let out a sound of exasperation as Harry walked up. "Shack, you didn't do the thing today!"

Hermione looked at Harry, frowning. "What thing?"

"Oh, just charge up the beam cannon and write SHACK on the hull, before sending it back to the Empire as a gift." Shack said, taking another sip of his coffee.

Hermione slammed her head into the transparisteel, making both Shack and Harry laugh. It was just too much fun teasing the brown haired teen. That was until his comm chimed and he answered it.

"Captain Shack here, if its' Imperial, we'll Liberate it for a just cause."

"Sensors have picked up a new fleet of Imperial approaching the Lianna system. As well as a small Rebel fleet trying to break through to us to being a supply line." His second in command said over the comm.

He sighed, if Lothal wasn't cut off by that nebula storm that had showed up out of nowhere, they could of had a proper supply chain around the outskirts of the blockade line.

"Have Captain Gordan take this one, the Liberation will be ready to back up if he gets in way too deep." He said.

"Yes sir, I'll relay the orders and it seems that Princess Leia Organa wishes to speak with you and Miss Granger." His second said before his holocomm chirped, meaning the data for the Princess's private channel.

"I got it." He said before signing off. "Hermione, you and I have a date with the real Princess it seems...this is going to be fun."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Princess Leia Organa, one of the few living people from Alderan, stood by the holo communication device with Luke Skywalker. She wasn't in a great mood at the moment, due to the divide that kept the Rebellion from meeting up. The major hyperspace route to the Lianna system was being held onto tightly by the Empire, however, a small Rebel fleet was heading through the Junkfort station to get to Lianna, hopefully. If they could reach Columex, then the fleet could get to the Lianna system.

Then there was the problem of the new fighters that the split of Rebels were using. Before the split, the Rebellion was able to rescue two teenagers from a primitive ship before the Empire attacked. The Rebels were forced to split up but it seems that from the Imperial data that they could gather, the Rebels that held the Lianna system were using ships similar to that of that primitive vessel.

This wasn't a good thing, that used precious resources that the Rebellion needed to build better fighters like the X-wing and A-wing fighters. It didn't matter that they were effective, they were a waste and didn't belong in her...THE Rebellion. That was why she was calling the Mon Calamari shipyards to have them stop production on such wasteful ships.

Luke stood by her side, calm as ever. He didn't believe the facts that the fighters the Rebels were using were wasting resources. If they could help take care of the Empire, then all power to them. The Holocom crackled into existence, showing the life size holograms of Captain Shack and Miss Hermione Granger.

"Captain," Leia greeted with her perfected political kindness, "Miss Granger."

"Princess Organa," Hermione said, giving Leia a once over before shaking her head, "If your going to try and make us stop producing the FW-01's, then your not going to win this."

Leia frowned, how had she known about that?

"Miss Granger, do you realize how much those ships actually cost to use?"

"Yes, I do," Hermione snapped, "They cost less than what an X-wing and Y-wing cost per week, FW-01's are more efficient than both the X-wing and A-wing in combat. I would know this because I am the one who pretty much created them with the help of the Mon Calamari Shipyards! You haven't been winning any real battles ever since the split up, you've only had minor victories while we've held an entire system and part of a hyperspace lane for the better part of several months! Don't you lecture me on what I can and can not do, _Princess_."

Luke stepped forward, taking over as it was very clear that Hermione was going insubordinate, "Hermione...if I can call you that."

"You may, Luke Skywalker." The girl smiled at Luke, actually smiled!

"Alright, Hermione, I'm not sure if you've realized this but the Empire is getting very aggressive. New TIE fighter variations are being produced and its making the rest of the Rebellion start losing more and more of our people in dog fights, which is most likely to counter your new fighters. You might see why Leia may be a bit miffed at this, as the Empire didn't really see us as a threat until the new fighters showed up." Luke explained calmly.

The young woman pondered as Captain Shack spoke up, "While that may be true, it seems that they are going after you more often as your pretty much leaving yourselves open as easy targets. You have Admiral Ackbar over there and I bet he wouldn't agree to such a tactless thing."

Leia bit back a growl, Ackbar was doing his best with what he had, but it was their fault the Empire was now treating them as a real threat.

"If Princess Leia can't get over her own ego and superiority complex, then I'm going to leave this call, Luke. I will not be told what to do by someone that thinks they own this Rebellion, just because her father was one of the founders. Former Senator Padmé Amidala was another of the original Founders of the Rebellion before her untimely death at the end of the Clone Wars, at least she was reasonable and not stubborn like Leia here."

With that, Hermione left, leaving Captain Shack there. He sighed, "She's right, you know and besides that, she won't stop at all. She's already working on making smaller and portable hypervelocity cannons for ships, which will be a boon to the fleet in the Lianna system. If you want to grow up and maybe work on trying to open the hyperspace lane, we might be able to start doing something on getting at the Empire. Shack out."

As the hologram of the Captain faded away, Luke looked at Leia before shaking his head.

"You know they're right on this, Leia. Why are you so stubborn about this?" He asked but Leia refused to answer him, turning on a heel and left the holo communications room.

* * *

The Gerrenthum System held many things in it, including bribery and illegal actions, however, that didn't matter to him. He didn't care about it, as he knelt before the hologram of an old, evil looking man in a hooded cloak.

"What is thy bidding, my master?" The baritone, electronic voice said, helmeted head bowed.

"There is a disturbance in the force, my apprentice…" The voice of the Emperor, formerly the Senator of Naboo, Palpatine or Darth Sidious, said.

"Yes, I have felt it myself, Master, two powerful beings in the force…"

"No," Sidious said, "The force avoids them like a plague, they have another power that isn't the force that you sense."

"What shall I do then, my Master?"

"You will head to the Liannan System, Fleet Admiral Sarah Maroon is already on her way to deal with the Rebels, you will personally find and capture the two." Sidious smiled, like a nexu on the prowl.

"If they don't join us, they will die, my master."

The hologram ended as the black figure stood up, Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, activated his helmet's personal intercom.

"Prepare the _Devastator _for another mission, I will be heading to the Lianna system with it, the rest of the Death Squadron will continue to hunt and destroy Rebel targets."

"Understood sir, any other orders?" The voice of Captain Piett asked over the link.

"No"

"Very well, My Lord," Piett said, "Happy Hunting."

Vader smirked as the link turned off, marching towards the hangar bay to take a shuttle to the Imperial Star Destroyer he used to command before he gained the _Executor_. It was time to take care of some business.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Hyperspace gave way to real space as the newly christened _Intangible _left the jump, as Captain Thrawn watched the stars around the edge of the Lianna system flickered and winked in and out of existence. Sixteen thousand meters, much shorter than the nineteen thousand meters of death known as the _Executor_-class SSD, this ship was built to handle long ranged hit and run, intelligence gathering and covert operations. The Chiss Captain watched the distant outlines of the Rebellion's fleet could be seen against planet itself.

Two continents made up the planet, with the majority of it made up of oceans. Also, it used to be under Imperial Control until the Rebellion for several months.

_The command center of the _Intangible _is silent as the officers and bridge crew did their work._ _Lord Vader stands behind the scannery officer, his stance stiff and unreadable. The officer was_ _rigid but remained quiet, doing his work despite the Sith Lord's presence._

"My Lord, all vectors have been scanned and recorded." _The officer reports. Lord Vader stands up, nodding curtl_y.

"Very good, continue scanning for any hyperspace disturbances near this vector." _Vader points at the terminal, indicating a specific vector._

_The Officer nods, as the Dark Lord walks up beside Thrawn. He crosses his arms over his armored chest before speaking up._

"Your presence is noted, Captain, but it seems you are not doing your job."

"I find that allowing the crews to do the work they were trained to do until told otherwise is the best policy upon any bridge. Heavy handedness is how many newly promoted officers are failing to defeat this part of the Rebellion."

_Vaders' stance relaxes, his breathing slowing down, almost in thought before returning to the constant rhythm. Fleet Admiral Sarah Maroon soon joins, her uniform clean and hand ironed it seemed._

"Lord Vader, I see your timing is impeccable as always." _Her voice is calm, smooth. Her facial muscles are relaxed, set in a neutral expression. She is clearly showing her best outlook upon this new situation. _"However, this is my operation, the Emperor has specifically hand-picked me for this mission."

"I understand, Fleet Admiral, but my mission is to capture one specific Rebel pilot that has been reported to be in these defense fleets."

"Then, we shall make sure to look for him or her if they do appear."

_She says with finality, making her stance clear. Lord Vader only bows his head in consent before looking out the viewport._

* * *

Darth Vader could feel the dark side looking for that presence his master had felt, his eyes looking at the results his helmet's scanners had picked up. The planet of Lianna has a sizable defense force around it, made up of destroyers, dreadnaughts, frigates and even a few Mon Calamari MC80 command cruisers. Much larger than the previous fleet that had guarded the planet, which was obvious. The _Intangible _scanned it all with specialized sensors that would hide any after effects that any scans that would normally be picked up by any MC80's cruisers normally.

That and this experimental vessel was going to be put to the test if it was going to be found out. The black duresteel plating would help it hide from physical view, with the metal able to "show" the stars behind them, making the illusion almost complete. Next, the specialized systems that cloaked the ship, allowed itself to be kept out of the scanners of the enemy at this distance. Along with several advanced gravity well generators hidden inside the ship that would stop any ship from being able to jump system allowed the new _Interrogator_-class SSD to stand out against the _Executor_-class.

The Rebel fleet shifted slightly, as another contingent of ships joined the first. Vader studied them before one of the bridge crew spoke up.

"Thirteen new contacts, Sirs," She said, "One Dreadnaught cruiser, ten frigates and two blockade runners."

The Sith Lord didn't respond, neither did Thrawn or Sarah for that matter. A silent acknowledgement was all that the crewman got, as Vader reached out with the Force to see if any of the ships had that one pilot. None of them did, he grimaced as his search came up empty. It would seem they would have to draw the pilot out instead, which meant combat.

"It seems the Rebel pilot isn't appearing," He said, turning to Sarah and Thrawn, "it's time that we bring the pilot out of hiding."

* * *

Aboard the _Resistor_, Captain Gordon Jones stood with his first lieutenant, Matthew. Out of the viewport of the Dreadnought before the world seemed to turn on its head. The Dreadnaught shook as the shields nearly buckled under the fire of the supposed Imperial Fleet. They had somehow not shown up on the sensors! The ship rocked again as another bolt of green energy slammed into the shields.

"Get the fighters out there! All guns, open fire!" Gordon had to shout over the shaking and rattling of the ship.

The fleets seemed to have become disoriented from the appearance of the Imperials, putting them on the back foot as they were slowly pushed back. Dark armored Star Destroyers pushed the advantage, turbolaser batteries blazing. Gordon shook his head, trying to clear his mind as the dreadnaught shook more, he could hear the crew moving and trying to fight back.

"Sir! That first volley took out our engines!" Someone shouted as a wing of TIE fighters roared past, stitching the hull with green laser fire.

"Shields at forty percent and dropping fast!"

"Both the _Freedom's Dawn_ and the _Alderran Fist_ are gone, multiple casualties across all ships!"

Gordon cursed before taking command, "Get a message to the _Liberation_! Imperials have new technology, send assistance quickly or we'll be obliterated out here!"

As the message was sent, Gordon started getting his act together and hopefully turn the battle around.

"All portside batteries hold their fire, get this ship moving out of this position and lay down covering fire for the frigates."

He grimaced as the ship nearly buckled again under another barrage of turbolaser fire, the shields barely holding as the ship limped out of the line of fire. This wasn't good at all.


End file.
